


And the Grammy goes to…

by mythras_fire



Category: 30 Seconds to Mars, Alexander (2004) RPF
Genre: 30 Seconds to Mars - Freeform, Crack, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-09-24
Updated: 2008-09-24
Packaged: 2017-11-08 09:09:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/441570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mythras_fire/pseuds/mythras_fire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What would happen if Jared were nominated for a Grammy and then had to decide what to wear to said awards show, with Colin’s help of course? (Sounds like fluff, and in a way it is, but humor me and read it anyway, it has some depth to it, I promise.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	And the Grammy goes to…

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: If you believe any of the following you need to put down the hash pipe, walk outside, take a deep breath and smell the reality check. Just a friendly suggestion from me to you.
> 
> Dedication: To my dear friend Stormy, this story started out as a cracked idea during a text messaging spree one day during work and of course soon developed a life of its own lol. And the Shomo bits are especially for her! *hug*

“I swear, Jared, I will lock you in that closet and Tomo and I will just go to the Grammy’s without you if you don’t fucking hurry up and pick out something to wear!”

Jared just flipped Shannon the bird over his shoulder as he continued digging through his closet looking for who-knows-what.

Shannon let out an exasperated sigh and left the bedroom at the sound of the doorbell.

“It’s okay, Tomo, I got it.” Tomo nodded and returned to his seat in the living room as Shannon walked over to the door.

Jared heard the door open and the sound of a very familiar Irish brogue greet his older brother. The singer smiled to himself as he continued chucking clothes everywhere.

He heard Shannon in the hallway talking to Colin. “Dude, glad you’re here, man. Maybe you can get him to make up his fuckin’ mind. We gotta leave in less than an hour.”

Colin just chuckled at Shannon’s frustrated tone. Ah yes, the Leto stubbornness was famous but not always so cute when you were on the receiving end of it. He followed Shannon to Jared’s room, not that he needed the direction. He could find Jared’s room with his eyes closed. He could find his bed even more easily.

“Jared, your better half is here!”

“Fuck you!” Jared replied as he traipsed across the clothes-strewn floor to pull an amused-looking Colin into the room at the same time that he closed the door in Shannon’s face with a sarcastic grin.

“What, I’m not a good enough fuck for you anymore, you gotta resort to fucking your brother? That’s just cold, man. Not to mention a wee bit disturbing,” Colin said, his beautiful Irish eyes shining with his caustic wit.

“You are one sick fuck, you do know that, right?” Jared said sweetly as he kissed his boyfriend hello.

“I have been told that on many an occasion, yes. Mostly by you, though. But if I’m your better half, then what does that make you?”

Jared was back to walking around the room picking up and tossing shirts and scarves around the bed and the floor. “Uh, since you showed up, horny, nervous as hell, running out of time, take your pick,” he said absentmindedly, eyeing a black button-down long-sleeved silk shirt lying haphazardly on the floor in front of the bed.

“I’ll take horny for 1,000, Alex,” Colin leered.

“What? Oh geez.” Jared rolled his eyes as he remembered what he had just said.

“But then that’s pretty much a given so let’s choose door number two instead,” He grabbed hold of Jared’s right wrist on his way by and pulled the American over to where Colin leaned against the desk. He began lightly tracing the 30 Seconds to Mars tattoo on the underside of his arm with his index finger, trying to get Jared to open up and talk to him, which usually worked pretty well.

“Are we having trouble deciding which pair of identical black pants to wear with which identical black shirt, babe?” He asked with a smile, trying to hide a chuckle. And failing. Miserably.

“You are not helping,” Jared pouted.

Colin reached out with his other hand to smush his index finger into Jared’s pouty lower lip. He was so sexy when he pouted. “No, this is true. Because if it were up to me, you wouldn’t wear clothes at all, like ever, so this would all really be a non-issue.”

“You are such a freak.”

Colin raised his eyebrows skeptically. “Excuse me? I’m not the one currently tearin’ up me fuckin’ room lookin’ for something to wear to the Grammy’s when all you ever wear these days is black on black anyway, which, don’t get me wrong, you still look hot, as always, but seriously Jay, just what is the problem here?”

Jared was looking down at Colin’s finger still tracing over his tattoo, and said nothing. Colin’s other hand came back up from where it had settled against his boyfriend’s waist to cup his chin this time. When Jared’s eyes were raised to his, the Irishman kissed them closed. Jared sighed loudly and leaned forward till their foreheads touched.

“Come on, Phai, out with it.”

Jared smiled in spite of himself. He could never refuse Colin anything when he used the nickname he had given his Hephaestion on the set of ‘Alexander’. Their first kiss had come about after Colin had called him Phai for the first time, looking at him with those big brown puppy dog eyes.

The older man pulled his head back to stare into those chocolate pools of light and chewed his lower lip nervously, another one of his habits that Colin found ridiculously cute. He just waited patiently.

“You’re gonna think I’m a total drama queen when I tell you,” he said quietly, his eyes darting back and forth from Colin’s face to the floor, peering out from under those beautifully long lashes not yet lined in kohl.

“Of course I won’t, I already *know* you’re a total drama queen, no thinking required.”

“Colin!”

“But you’re the hottest, smartest, most talented drama queen I’ve ever had the privilege to fuck so go ahead and tell me, I promise not to judge.”

“Damn right I am and don’t you forget it.”

“Couldn’t even if I wanted to. You’re stuck with me, Phai, whether you like it or not. Now tell me what it is or I’ll have to spank it out of you.”

“Oooooh, is that a promise or a threat?” came the cheeky reply.

Colin’s eyes were suddenly alight with lust and with a feral grin on his handsome face he jumped away from the desk to lunge at a shrieking Jared who had just barely anticipated this change in mood and jumped out of the way when he saw those eyes darken and that grin on his face. Colin tried to chase him around the bedroom but all the clothes on the floor were making it hard not to slip. The bedroom was not that large though, and when Jared passed in front of the bed, Colin just took a flying leap and tackled him facedown on top of piles of scarves, socks, and underwear. Colin got a few good slaps in to Jared’s tight little ass before he managed to wriggle around to lie on his back under Colin, ass protected for the moment.

They were both laughing so much they fought for breath; Colin threatened to tickle him in his most vulnerable spots. Jared already couldn’t breathe so he finally relented and just blurted it out.

“Mark’s going to be there, he’s presenting an award, and I haven’t seen him since we broke up and that was over eight months ago and we used to talk constantly about what if one or both of us ever won a Grammy and how fuckin’ awesome that would be-”

*breath*

“-and he always told me I was gonna be the first one to get one although I never actually believed him cuz I figured he was just shooting the shit, ya know, he was always telling me we were better than we thought and-”

*breath*

“-all that shit and now I’m nominated and I don’t know who the presenter is, for all I know it could be him and…and…” Jared finally took a proper breath and stopped blabbering when he noticed Colin’s amused smile had since disappeared to be replaced with a look he couldn’t quite figure out.

That was probably not a good thing.

“What’s wrong, baby?” Jared asked worriedly. Colin just laid there suspended above Jared his elbows resting on either side of the singer’s head.

“Mark?” Jared nodded with a weak smile.

“Mark who?”

“McGrath.” A blank stare from Colin was his only response. “Um, from Sugar Ray? Heard of them?” Colin’s eyes shifted out of focus beyond Jared’s face as he thought about it.

“American bloke?”

“Mmhmm,” Jared mumbled. He didn’t like where this seemed to be going. He was running late as it was. ‘Making your boyfriend jealous when he was just trying to make you feel better is fucking brilliant, Leto, just fuckin’ brilliant.’ Jared chided himself silently. He knew the Irishman was a jealous man when it came to Jared’s past lovers. Male lovers, that is. Colin could care less about the women Jared had been with, he knew that was just for show, a fucking publicity stunt. The few men Jared had been with, that was for real and therefore presented a real threat to Colin’s relationship with Jared. ‘Stupid stupid stupid’ Jared thought as Colin asked his next question.

“So, I must have missed the part during that lovely little speech of yours—God I hope that’s not how your acceptance speech is gonna go—”

“No, I have it… have it all… written down…” Jared sputtered out.

Colin continued as if Jared hadn’t even spoken, “—where you explained why your room looks like a disaster zone…”

Jared lifted his head off the pile of clothes underneath them to look over the left side of the bed, as if noticing the mess for the first time.  “Ah, yes, well, that, that’s cuz, um,”

“Black on black, Jay,” Colin interrupted, sitting up with a sigh, “can’t be that fuckin’ hard.”

Jared winced. “But it’s the Grammy’s Cols,” he tried to explain, sitting up as well. He ran a hand through his disheveled hair and then started picking at the invisible lint along the hemline of Colin’s long-sleeve shirt. “This is the Academy Awards of music honors. It’s huge. So the drama queen in me has been freaking out because if this is my one big chance, then I don’t want to fuck it up, ya know, I don’t want to disappoint him, I wanna look my best and-”

At hearing the words “disappoint him” Colin’s head shot up from up from where he had been watching Jared nervously pluck at his shirt and he interrupted Jared.

“Him?”

Those beautifully expressive brown eyes were staring at Jared with a mixture of shock, disappointment, and something darker.

‘Fuck. Me.’ was all Jared could think. “Them, I, I, I meant the echelon, our family of fans, just slipped out of my mouth wrong.”

Colin wasn’t buyin’ it. He turned and slid off the bed, muttering under his breath “bet that’s not all that was slipping out of your mouth,” as he walked over to the window and looked out, seeing nothing. Jared either didn’t hear him or chose to ignore it because he just sat there looking at Colin’s profile turned at an angle away from the bed.

Jared sighed and glanced at the clock on the wall- ‘Shit! I’ve only got about another five minutes before Shannon comes in and actually shoves me into the closet, probably Colin too since he was supposed to be helping me. Guess this calls for a little bit of reverse psychology. Works every time.’

Jared got up from the bed and went to stand behind Colin, propping his chin on his lover’s left shoulder. “Ahhh, you wouldn’t happen to be a little jealous, now would you, my Alexander?” The name plus Jared’s cool hands sliding around his waist sent a shiver down Colin’s spine.

“I’m not jealous,” he replied grumpily.

“I think you are,” Jared whispered in his ear as he embraced him, “But you have nothing to worry about.”

“Your room would suggest otherwise.”

Jared thought he heard the slightest bit of mirth returning to the Irishman’s lilt. “Cols, seriously, my room looks like this before every fucking concert or premiere I go to. I’m so fuckin’ indecisive when I have to dress for things that Shan usually has to come in and literally throw clothes on me to get my ass out the door on time.”

Colin chuckled at that mental image.

“Now it’s your turn to dress me,” he said slyly. Colin turned in Jared’s arms, contemplating him for a moment.

“Okay, first take off your shirt,” he said as he walked past Jared towards the nearest pile of clothes.

Jared complied silently, tossing it onto the bed.

"Pants next."

The pants joined the shirt in a heap to one side. Jared stood there in his boxers and his socks by the foot of the bed, expecting to be tossed a new pair of pants and a shirt. What he got was a pair of mischief-filled eyes and a screwball grin.

"There. You look smashing. Wait, just a sec..." Colin bent over and picked up a long red scarf. He wrapped it twice around Jared's neck, letting one side hang down his bare chest. His grin was still there and his eyes were still twinkling. "Ok, now you're ready."

Jared just looked at him dubiously.

Colin continued to fuss about with Jared's long hair, pulling it out from under the scarf as if he were not just standing there clad only in his silk boxers. And his fuckin’ argyle socks.

Daft bastard.

Colin gave Jared an appreciative once-over before grabbing both ends of the scarf, pulling them snug against Jared's neck, causing the singer to be pulled forward into Colin's embrace.

The kisses started out slow and sweet, kind of like an apology from both sides, jealousy on one and misplaced nerves on the other. Then they started to heat up, Jared welcoming Colin's tongue into his waiting mouth, Colin possessing what they both knew was his. Jared grabbed the back of Colin's neck and returned the favor, expressing his possessive side as well.

Shannon, of course, picked that moment to come barging into the room, his suspicions confirmed that the silence that had been emanating from Jared's bedroom couldn't have been a good thing. And unfortunately for Shannon's eyes, he had been right.

"Ahhhh! My eyes, I'm scarred for life!" he groaned over-dramatically, an arm thrown across his eyes to save him from the sight.

Jared started snickering into Colin's hair as the Irishman lifted his head from where he had been staking his claim on Jared's neck underneath the scarf.

"Did you need something, Shan?" Colin asked innocently when he looked over his shoulder towards the door.

Shannon gave Colin a mock evil look and tried to sound intimidating. "Yeah, man, I do. I need my brother, dressed, coiffed, ready to go. Five minutes ago."

Colin turned his head back to mutter to the singer, "demanding little shit, isn't he."

"You have no idea"

Colin leaned back to take another look at Jared's gorgeous body, grinned like the Cheshire cat, then looked back at Shannon and said with a straight face, "Looks good to me, mate, just slap some shoes on him and he's ready to go!"

Shannon ignored Colin's smart-ass response and looked pointedly at the forlorn-looking closet with empty hangers all askew, most knocked to the floor, and then back at Jared, one of his eyebrows raised meaningfully.

Jared, now in much better spirits, immediately scooted behind Colin, turning him around to face Shannon, using him as a human shield.

"What the fuck, Jay?" Colin exclaimed, laughing at his antics.

"He's gonna throw me in the closet, Cols! Get 'im!" Jared pushed Colin forward a little bit as he spoke, like he was some kind of guard dog.  Colin looked questioningly at Shannon, feeling the giggles reverberate through his back from the man hiding behind him.

The supposedly "grown-up" man.

Shannon looked like he was indeed seriously considering tossing his own brother in the closet, although how he was going to lock it Colin had no idea, seeing as how it was in fact a closet. But he was sure that Shannon would find a way. He was a clever little bastard.

"I dunno, Jay, I don't think you'd fit back in the closet, love, I think that ship has sailed- ow!"

"Not the metaphorical closet, dipshit, the one over there," Jared swatted his head before pointing over Colin's shoulder to the closet behind Shannon.

"What is this, primary school?" Colin tried to look at Jared but he just shuffled his feet to remain hidden behind the Irishman.

"You mean 'third grade'," came the muffled, giggling response.

"Huh?"

"You're supposed to say, 'What is this, third grade?'"

"Do I look like a bloody Yank to you?"

Even Shannon started to snicker a little, shaking his head. "You two fuckers really are meant for each other, you know that? Colin, puleeze get some clothes on your darling boyfriend there so we can leave in the next 10 minutes..." he pleaded with the actor on his way out the door, knowing full well that they were going to go right back to their debauchery as soon as he was out of sight. The resumed silence was proof enough.

Shannon returned to the living room where he and Tomo had been camped out for most of the day, having gotten ready for the Grammy’s like normal human males in about 20 minutes three hours ago. They had been watching something on TV, but Tomo had turned it off while Shannon was up just then and he couldn’t even recall what it was they had been watching so it couldn’t have been anything good anyway.

Shannon was lying on the couch with his head propped up in Tomo’s lap, Tomo playing with his short, spiky brown hair, massaging the scalp in a soothing, almost absent-minded way. Tomo knew that this calmed Shannon down whenever he was antsy or frustrated and Shannon was grateful that his boyfriend seemed to always be so conscious of his moods.

He drew a heavy sigh that came out slowly like wind from a bellows and rubbed his eyes. “He was just standing there in his boxers. And a fuckin’ scarf.”

“And Colin?”

“And his socks, for fuck’s sake. What, oh, he was still dressed. Looks like he got distracted in what I hope was the process of picking out an outfit for Jay to wear.”

“I don’t blame him”

Shannon sighed again. He had been doing a lot of that lately he noted sardonically. “No, if you were standing there in your boxers I doubt I’d be much help either.”

Tomo smiled. They were silent for a few minutes, Shannon lying there, eyes closed, practically purring at the attention the other man was lavishing upon him.

“Are you going to grow out your hair?” Tomo broke the silence to ask.

“Hmm? Uh, I dunno, I guess. Not too long probably, it’s not as nice as Jay’s. Kinda works better for me when I can spike it in the morning and be done with it.”

“Or wear one of your beanies, right, since it’s getting chilly outside now.”

“Yeah, I’ve been wearing that hat with the flaps more often lately when we’re out at night. Been thinkin’ of coloring it, actually.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, was thinking of going blonde. What do you think about that?”

Tomo regarded him as if visualizing a mental picture of a blonde-haired Shannon in his head, his hand going still for a moment before resuming the massage. “How blonde?”

“Well it’s so dark, it’d have to be more like white-blonde to start because otherwise the color wouldn’t take and then I’d probably end up with orange hair.”

Tomo snickered at the thought and Shannon flicked him on the nose.

“Too bad Halloween’s already passed; you could have gone as the Great Pumpkin.”

Shannon laughed in spite of being the punch line to Tomo’s jest. “I think you’ve been watching too many Charlie Brown specials. But yeah, we could get you a blue blanket and you could be Linus, sitting up waiting all night long in the pumpkin patch.”

Tomo smiled in response. “Why do you want to dye your hair blonde? I’m not so sure how it would look on you.”

“Why not? It’d be different. It would be... something new.”

Tomo thought he had an idea why Shannon wanted to make so visually drastic a change to his appearance and his name started with a J and ended in –ared. Sometimes it was hard for the older Leto to let his younger brother soak up all the lime light, although part of it was due to his status as a successful actor, and no one could begrudge him that honor. But Tomo saw parts of Shannon that his brother would never see, and this made him want to comfort Shannon more, to try and distract him from walking around in his brother’s shadow all the time. He had a feeling that Shannon regarded himself as the protective older brother, akin to being like their mother away from home, and that was a tough role to play. It wore him out sometimes, tonight being one of the more benign occurrences but one nonetheless. 

“I for one think that you look perfect as you are, with your matching brown hair and eyebrows and eyes. You don’t need to change your appearance on a whim to be striking. I think you’ve got that act down quite well.” Tomo pulled Shannon’s right hand up from its resting place on his chest to place a gentle kiss on the back of his palm.

The love shining in Shannon’s eyes could have been tears but they were blinked away as Shannon leaned up and replaced his hand’s position with his own lips in a tender kiss. “Thank you.”

“You are welcome.”

Shannon kissed him again, harder this time, more passion pouring from his soul. Tomo inhaled sharply through his nose, too conscientious of the other two men in the nearby bedroom to really enjoy the kiss.

“Shannon, no, we can’t—” he tried to push the drummer back down onto his lap away from his lips.

“What, why?” He rose up again to kiss Tomo’s neck right above the collar of his dress shirt.

Tomo was trying to squirm away from the much-too-tempting touch. “Because… because we’re not alone.”

Shannon sat up fully and made a show of looking around the empty living room. “Looks like we’re alone to me, babe” he said teasingly, turning to hover over Tomo on his knees, hands pressing on Tomo’s shoulders, urging him to recline backwards onto the couch, launching his attack on his lover’s lips with renewed fervor.

The fight was starting to go out of Tomo’s protests, Shannon’s kisses felt too good and his body was so warm and muscular lying on top of him, pressing him down into the cushions. “But, what if they—what if…they could come out here at any minute and—”

“Shhh, love, they won’t… don’t worry about it, it’s okay,” Shannon whispered as he ran a hand down Tomo’s ribcage past his quivering stomach muscles till he reached the X on his treasure map. He heard no more complaining from the other man on the subject…

*****

Colin saluted the retreating drummer before turning to face the man who had finally released his death grip on the back of Colin's shirt.

Jared gave him an appraising glance. "Mmmmm, no, you look like an Irishman to me," he continued their conversation.

He leaned closer and inhaled close to Colin's neck. "You smell like an Irishman."

His lips slid over to claim his lover's parted lips. "And you definitely taste like an Irishman," Jared whispered seductively, his hands running lightly up and down the other man's back.

Colin's brain shorted out as all the blood rushed to his groin. He grabbed Jared through his boxers. Jared gasped and jerked forward into Colin's hand, the silk creating a delicious friction.

"And you definitely feel like an American. *My* American," punctuating that last part with a solid push of his lower body into Jared's, almost knocking him off-balance.

"Yours," Jared exhaled breathlessly.

"Mine," he repeated, driving his point home.

Colin continued stroking him through his boxers, leaving little love bites all over Jared's exposed skin. It was all Jared could do to hold on to Colin's shoulders, hands wrapping around his neck for support.

"Fuck, yes... touch me, Cols."

Colin snuck his right hand down past the waistband of Jared's boxers. They moaned in unison.

"Not gonna last long."

" 's fine, ya gotta go in a wee bit, remember?"

"Fuck, I love it when you go all Irish on me"

"Does it get you hot, me bonnie lad?" Colin replied in a thicker brogue. He stared into those startling cerulean eyes until he was compelled to mutter, almost under his breath, "damn you're beautiful," his forehead coming to rest against his lover's. His pace quickened at the sound of Jared's shallow breathing and the feel of the bruises he was sure were forming on his neck from his boyfriend's grip.

Colin's lips drifted over to whisper something in Jared's ear. Jared promptly came harder than he could ever remember coming. Colin tenderly kissed him down from his euphoric high, holding him 'til his body stopped shaking.

Jared heaved a sigh and whispered a reply into Colin's ear, the first of such he had ever said to the Irishman.

"I love you, too."

*****

“Okay, Cinderella’s finally ready for the ball!” Colin exclaimed with a smirk as he rounded the corner to the living room with a giddy-looking Jared in tow.

Fooling around with Colin, especially when they were supposed to be doing something else, always made him feel that way. But tonight he really was about 30 seconds to Mars he was so happy, as clichéd as that sounded.

Jared rounded the corner and got a face full of the back of Colin’s shirt because the Irishman had stopped dead in his tracks. Craning his neck to look over Colin’s shoulder, Jared just rolled his eyes at the sight before them: Shannon was sprawled across the couch with his hand down Tomo’s pants as he lie underneath the older man, his face flushed and his rosy lips swollen from making out with his boyfriend.

Colin cleared his throat and said dryly, “Fuck, is it that late already? I think we missed the Grammy’s, Jay, but it appears you guys won cuz they started the celebration without us.”

“I got bored,” Shannon lied, replying just as dryly, not moving more than his head to turn around and look at the intruders. Tomo, however, had turned his face into the security of Shannon’s chest to hide quietly in plain sight.

Still standing directly behind Colin, Jared put his right hand up to cup his mouth next to Colin’s ear and said in a stage whisper, “He always gets horny when he’s bored,” to which Colin burst out laughing and Shannon just glared at both of them.

“Good thing you have Tomo around otherwise you’d have to hide all your stuffed animals, huh, Jay?” Colin looked over his shoulder.

“Ha ha, yeah—wait! I do not have stuffed animals!”

“So those weren’t a bunch of teddy bears with red scarves and black gloves I saw on the bed hidden underneath the entire contents of your closet? The ones sent in by the echelon for ‘The Kill’ video?”

Jared paused for a second and then exhaled, looking sheepishly at Colin. “Oh, thooose, yeah, I thought you meant, um, nevermind, *ahem* yeah, good thing, huh, Tomo.”

Tomo mumbled something incoherent through Shannon’s shirt and gave a quick thumb’s up but otherwise didn’t come out from his hiding place.

“Would you two idiots kindly go get in the car so that we can *cough* finish getting ready to go? I wouldn’t be surprised if we did miss half the show we’re going to be so late…”

“That’s okay, bro, you and Tomo already got a head start on the celebratin’ if we win and our nomination isn’t till towards the end anyways so Colin ’n’ I are gonna go ‘warm up’ the car for you guys,” he said with a devious smile that Shannon swore was too big for his face. Colin, who hadn’t seen the look on Jared’s face because he was standing in front of the other man, was promptly yanked unceremoniously out the front door.

“Fuckin’ great,” Shannon muttered to himself dejectedly as he slumped back down on top of Tomo’s chest with a huge sigh, his hands coming up to rest under his chin. The guitarist chuckled quietly, rubbing his lover’s back in slow circles.

Colin followed Jared out to the car. “Um, Jay, I thought you said the heater was broken in this thing. You were just bitchin’ about it the other day on the phone.”

“It is broken,” Jared said succinctly, giving Colin ‘the look’ as he climbed into the back seat. Colin’s eyebrows shot up and he practically shoved Jared the rest of the way into the car. “God bless faulty heaters!” Jared cracked up laughing until his boyfriend found a better use for his mouth.

*****

Tomo waited until Shannon was lulled into complacency before thwacking him up the backside of his head.

“Ow!”

“Fucker”

“What was that for, man?” Shannon asked, rubbing the sting out of his scalp with one hand.

Tomo looked up at him stonily. “I told you they were gonna come out any minute, but you couldn’t hear me, all the blood had already rushed out of one head, headed for the other.”

“You know that just goes to prove what you do to me, babe,” Shannon said sweetly, laying it on thick to try and get out of the hole he had just dug for himself.

“That you become a blithering idiot when you’re horny and don’t listen to me?”

“Um, I was thinking more like the way that you make me so hard for you sometimes that I can’t help but throw myself at you in the heat of passion?” He made it a question, hoping Tomo would choose that one.

“No, I think it’s the blithering idiot one.”

Apparently not.

Their relationship was still rather new, not having discovered deeper feelings for each other until after Matt had left the band and the only other temptation had been removed. They had only really started fooling around a few months ago. Jared found them out rather abruptly one night not long after that when he thought no one was home. He had come in to the room quietly as it was his wont to remove his shoes at the front door, and accidentally walked in on them making out in front of the TV; ironically their own music from the self-titled album was twisting its way out of the speakers as the credits rolled for “The Core”. Jared had been cool with it, pleased even; because that meant that he and Colin could relax around them and be themselves.  But Tomo was of a quiet nature, not given much to wanton displays of public affection. Or say, getting a hand job from your boyfriend while his brother and his boyfriend are in the next room and could come out into the living room at any time. But he was coming around, Shannon could tell. He’d only called him one name this time. Tomo cursed him a blue streak that would have made a sailor proud that first night after Jared had discreetly excused himself.

“Ok then, blithering idiot it is,” Shannon agreed readily. He brushed away some of the longer black hair that had fallen into Tomo’s eyes during his mini-tirade and put on his best charming smile.

“Can the blithering idiot at least tell you how gorgeous you look right now with your new hair cut and the outfit that you’re um, mostly wearing?”

Shannon felt the chest below his inhale deeply as the other man let out a deep sigh. A small smile graced his lips. “Oh, I suppose so. Just give me a little more time to get used to this, okay?”

Shannon sat up, now straddling his thighs, to give him a mock salute. “Yes, sir! I will go tell Jay and Colin to plan on walking in on us at least—hey!—three more—ow!—times this week—son of a bitch! Ow! Stop it, T! Ow! You know those pillows aren’t actually that soft! Hey! Fuck, that was the zipper end! Okay, I give up! Ow ow ow…”

*****

“Are we done yet?”

“No.”

“Are we done yet?”

“No.”

“Are we done yet?”

*sigh* “Do you *see* a golden gramophone plaque on the table, Cols?”

“No,” the sulking Irishman replied.

Jared rolled his eyes. “Then we’re not done yet.” Colin looked over at him apologetically for being so bored and Jared couldn’t help but smile at his lovely boyfriend’s extremely short attention span. Well, except when it came to a few *certain* things. If it involved Jared sans clothes behind closed doors then Colin suddenly had the concentration powers of a Buddhist monk.

Go figure.

As a distraction for both himself and for Colin, Jared scooted his chair closer to Colin at the far side of the round, cloth-covered table and surreptitiously slid his left hand under the table and brushed it lightly over Colin’s right thigh, eliciting a sharp gasp from the Irishman’s mouth and a long-suffering eye-roll from Shannon when he turned his head at Colin’s sharp intake of breath.  Jared just smiled innocently at his brother who turned back to face the stage with a wry grin and a shake of his spiky-haired head.

Jared laid his hand fully on Colin’s thigh now and started inching his way closer and closer to the crossroads where his leg met his hip. Jared could feel the heat seeping through Colin’s dark slacks and felt the other man squirm a little in his seat.

“Not fair, luv,” Colin complained quietly, his head tilted towards Jared, eyes still staring straight ahead, limbs fidgeting in his seat. “Yer gonna get me all worked up fer nuthin’.” Colin’s voice was like a beacon for Jared in the dark. He had always been this way, the more aroused he was, the more Irish he sounded until there were times when Jared was sure he wasn’t speaking English at all, but must have been Gaelic or something. Jared would ask him later on what he had said in the throes of passion but Colin usually said he couldn’t remember; that it was probably one endearment or another. Jared wondered if Colin had been telling him he loved him in Gaelic all this time and was only now confessing his love to him in English. He smiled at the thought.

Right now he sounded well on his way to needing an interpreter to talk to Jared much longer. ‘Guess today has been quite a big day for us,’ Jared mused. And there was a chance it could get even bigger.

He leaned over to whisper in Colin’s ear, looking over the back of his shoulder at the remaining four rows of tables in the great hall.

“Well, how’s this? I’ll let you fuck me in just my socks and this scarf you like so much if you can wait patiently until we go home,” his hand slid over to the zippered part of Colin’s pants and dragged the fingernail of his index finger up to the top button, creating an echo off the metallic zipper.

Colin froze.

“And if we win, I’m going to fuck—Mark!”

Colin was dragged out of his reverie and slammed into the proverbial brick wall. “Mark?” he spluttered, his voice cracking from the sudden change in mood. He turned to his right to gauge how badly he was being teased but Jared was looking over Colin’s shoulder at someone standing behind them in between their chairs. Colin turned around completely in his seat and came face to navel with a man in a nicely tailored black pinstripe suit with the jacket open and a casual black t-shirt on underneath, an interesting silver swirl pattern on it somehow matching the rest of his ensemble.

The two of them were already talking quietly, and Colin mentally smacked himself to make him start paying attention, then raised his head.

“…wow, really? That’s so great, Jay. I’m so happy for you,” Mark was saying, a big stupid grin on his stupid charming, All-American face. Stupid bugger.

Colin decided that it was time to show this ‘Mark’ who Jared belonged with- not ‘to,’ mind you, Colin knew how to be jealous and a gentleman at the same time, see. He silently placed his left hand on top of Jared’s hand gripping the top of Colin’s chair.

Jared immediately smiled at the action and said, “Mark, I’d like you to meet my boyfriend, Colin. Colin, this is Mark.”

Jared could tell that Colin was at war with his emotions on how best (or worst) to address Mark so he decided to help him out. “Be nice,” he mouthed to Colin as his free hand found its way back over to sit soothingly on Colin’s leg under the table. This seemed to reassure Colin, who put on his best “I’m Colin-Fucking-Farrell” grin and presented his right hand to Mark, all the while maintaining a solid grip over Jared’s hand that was now stuck to his chair.

“Colin Farrell, good to meet you, mate.”

“Mark McGrath, likewise.”

“Now you boys—” Jared made to stand up but his hand was still caught underneath Colin’s stubborn grip, like he was afraid Jared was going to walk off with Mark or something. Silly git. He gave him a quick glare and yanked again, freeing his hand. “—play nice. I’m going to go use the little boy’s room, be right back.” And without a single look back at the cat in the canary’s cage, Jared sauntered off to the bathrooms at the back of the hall.

Shannon practically followed him into the bathroom pushing through the doors about 10 seconds after Jared went through them. He walked over to stand next to Jared, not even using the pretense of having to use the urinals. “Are you out of your fucken’ mind? Maybe all that kohl around your eyes has finally seeped into your brain and is affecting your reasoning skills.”

Jared regarded his brother as if they weren’t standing there having a conversation while one of them aimed at the porcelain fly at the bottom of the bowl in a public restroom.

“What?! I had to take a piss. Did you want me to drag Cols in here with me so those two wouldn’t be left alone together? Bro, I think you’d have a bigger problem trying to get us *out* of the bathroom, especially after what I had just been suggesting to him,” he mumbled, “than you would leaving them alone for two minutes. Besides, Tomo’s there. Relax.”

Shannon sighed and rubbed his hands over his face. “Eww. I don’t even want to know.” Jared smirked as he flushed and turned to wash his hands at the sink.

Something occurred to Shannon in that moment. “You left them together on purpose didn’t you?”

Jared just grinned at Shannon through the reflection in the mirror, now drying his hands. “They’re both jealous, passionate men. I’d rather they laid out all their suspicions and threats on the table now instead of me having to deal with a sulking Irishman every time I bring up Mark’s name and a sulking American every time I’m out in public with Cols and we see Mark.”

“Either that or they’re just going to beat each other up,” Shannon muttered as he trailed Jared back to their table.

“That is always a possibility, yes, but my money’s on Cols,” Jared said with a wink right before they sat back down.

“Did you two have a nice trip to the bathroom?” Tomo teased Shannon. The drummer reached over to mess up Tomo’s perfectly coiffed hairdo in response which elicted a playful slap and “no, stop it!” from the guitarist.

Jared answered for his older brother. “Yes, Tomo, we did, thank you. But next time could you go with him? I think he needs to *blow* off some steam, he looks a little tense, don’t you think?” He winked at Tomo, who of course blushed slightly and Shannon could be heard hissing “STFU” in Jared’s general direction.

Jared turned his focus to Colin, who had been sitting there almost patiently, saying nothing, one of his legs bouncing up and down under the table cloth.

“Where’s Mark?”

“Had to go prepare for his presenter’s role.”

“Did you two have a nice talk?” Jared asked sweetly as he regarded Colin over the top of his wine glass.

“I told him to stay the fuck away from you if that’s what you mean by ‘talk’,” Colin replied darkly, staring into Jared’s beautiful blue eyes to drive home how serious he was.

“Oh yes, it was a real manly display of emotions,” Tomo interjected. Jared turned to look at Tomo, a smile on his face. Colin continued with his macho façade, at least for the moment.

“Yeah? Did they challenge each other to a duel to the death to defend my honor?”

Shannon rolled his eyes. “Only you could see it that way, Jay.”

“And what honor might this be, luv?” Colin asked smugly. He couldn’t help teasing his boyfriend. It was always such a kick.

Jared dropped his jaw in melodramatic shock.

“Well I guess it wasn’t honor then,” Shannon smirked.

Tomo and Colin both laughed while Jared pretended to pout, arms crossed over his chest, a cute little frown upon his lips.

“Actually, it was very sweet, in a caveman sort of way,” Tomo declared. Colin was all grins and Jared was genuinely interested in the answer. Shannon was only half listening, his chair facing the stage.

“Colin told Mark that if he tried to take Jared away from him after he’d had his chance, Colin would put him six feet under and Mark told Colin that if he hurt Jared in any way or screwed up his chances for greatness, Mark would make sure he was pushing daisies real soon. They were oh-so-original with their death threats.”

“Awwwww, you really do love me!” Jared said with a sigh, batting his long eyelashes at Colin, his head cocked to the side, hands clasped beneath his chin.

“Fucken right I do, Phai,” Colin affirmed, grinning back at Jared.

Jared grinned back. A moment later, the glint in his eyes changed from one of joy to one of mischief. Colin felt his pants tighten and all Jared had done was look at him. He was so whipped.

“So, as I was saying earlier,” Jared said quietly, still gazing at those chocolate brown eyes, “if we win, I am going to fuck—”

“Shannon Leto?” a voice behind them interrupted.

Colin’s head hit the table with a sick *thud* at the same time Jared just stuck out an arm to point in his brother’s direction across the table, an exasperated sigh issuing forth from his red lips.

“Yes?” Shannon turned around to face the usher, glancing briefly over at the strange actions of his friend and then at his annoyed-looking brother.

“They’re ready for you backstage; Best Rock Album is up after this next category is over.”

“Ok, thank you. Come on, guys, showtime.” He and Tomo got up and began to follow the usher. “Jay, you comin’?”

“Yeah, be right there.” Jared said quickly, glancing at Shannon as he said it.

“K”

Jared looked apologetically at the other man as he raised his head from table and whispered, “sorry” as he rose from his chair. Colin stopped him with a hand on his chest.

“I have two words for you, Jared. Blue. Balls.”

“You,” Jared said quickly in that low sultry tone of his, “if we win, I’m going to fuck you into next week. It was always you, ya daft bastard, didn’t you know that?”

“A man still likes to hear it sometimes,” Colin said by way of explanation.

Jared grinned as he shook his head. “Wish me luck?”

Colin moved his hand from Jared’s chest down to clasp one of his hands in his own. He brought it up to his lips and kissed the back of his palm lightly, reverently. “Good luck,” he said softly. Jared’s eyes glowed with love for his boyfriend. He nodded his thanks and went off to find Shannon.

*****

The ride home was a somber one. Colin was driving; Jared was hunched over in the passenger seat staring out the window. Shannon and Tomo would occasionally talk amongst themselves in the backseat then fall silent. Colin dropped Tomo and Shannon off at Tomo’s apartment. Jared gave them both hugs and a peck on the cheek through the open window as Colin said goodnight to them.

They parked the car at Jared’s house and Colin followed his boyfriend silently up to and through the front door. After taking off his shiny black Chucks, Jared walked straight over to the couch and fell on to it face-first with a fully loaded sigh. Colin followed suit and left his loafers sitting next to Jared’s shoes. He didn’t bother turning the overhead light on, figuring Jared could use a softer ambience so he turned on one of the desk lamps on the other side of the room instead. The room was bathed in a soft, yellow light, casting shadows over everything.

The actor was about to sit down on the couch next to the bummed out singer but he was waylaid by a muffled voice asking, “Cols, would you put on some tunes, please?”

“I thought that’d be the last thing you’d want to hear right now,” Colin replied, a bit perplexed, but he walked over to the shelf above the TV anyway, turned on the CD-changer and hit ‘random’. “Shannon doesn’t have any of his heavy metal drum solo stuff in here, does he? Not sure I wouldn’t make a wee girl out of meself if I were to be surprised by one and screamed a bit. And I fancy keeping me dignity intact, you know, so…”

A quiet chuckle floated up from the couch. “That would be cute, but nah, I just used it yesterday, needed some mood music to relax to.”

Colin returned to the couch as the soothing strains of John Coltrane started flowing from the speakers. He nudged Jared’s head and the other man scooted up onto all fours on the couch so Colin could sit down. Jared turned to lie on his back and rested his head in Colin’s lap, eyes closed, just feeling the music.

Colin started running his fingers through Jared’s hair, noticing with an amused grin all the different shades apparent in the under layers from all the different color phases Jared had gone through recently while on tour with the band. It was still remarkably healthy-looking though and one of Colin’s favorite things to do during their down time was play with Jared’s hair.

Jared stretched his body into Colin’s touch, reveling in the relaxing massage and tingly feeling he always got when Colin did this. He pulled Colin’s left hand down to his chest and wrapped his arms around it like a pillow.

Colin chuckled, maintaining the massage with his right hand now. “What am I, a pillow?”

“Yes. Big fluffy Colin pillow,” Jared replied sleepily, his eyes still closed, head titled into Colin’s arm like he was going to go to sleep right then and there.

The CD-changer finished playing Coltrane and whirred over to another disc. Snow Patrol started playing.

“I see. Well, at least you didn’t say ‘squishy’.”

“Why, because ‘fluffy’ is so much better than ‘squishy’?”

“Well, no, when you put it that way, it isn’t so try again.”

“Mmm, k, how’s about ‘cooshy’?”

“Nope.”

“‘Stuffy’?”

That earned a small smack to the head. “Ow. ‘Fat’? Ow! Hee hee, ok ok! How about ‘cuddly’?”

Jared could actually hear Colin thinking it over going ‘hmmmm’. “Ok, cuddly it is.”

Jared smirked and shook his head. “Big cuddly girl pillow is more like it,” he teased.

“Am not.”

“Are too.”

“Am not.”

“Are t—oooh I love this song!”

Colin laughed at Jared’s random change of subject. Colin wasn’t the only one with a short attention span sometimes. Jared opened his eyes to grin up at Colin before lowering them back to stare across the room at nothing in particular while he began singing along in his sultry soulful voice. Colin watched in awe of his lover’s talent, his hand forgotten in Jared’s dark locks.

_“We’ll do it all  
Everything  
On our own.  
We don’t need  
Anything  
Or anyone.”  
_  
Colin knew this song, the band was from the UK, sounded like Scotland he thought. When the chorus began he joined in softly.

_"If I lay here  
If I just lay here  
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?”_

“We should do karaoke some time Cols, I forgot what a great voice you have cuz you never sing anymore,” Jared gave him his best puppy dog eyes, which Colin knew first hand put all others to shame. His favorite part of the song was just coming up so Colin just smiled as he sang to Jared.

_“All that I am  
All that I ever was  
Is here in your perfect eyes, they’re all I can see”_

Jared’s perfect eyes were glowing in the soft light. He reached up with his right arm to pull Colin’s head down for a kiss but when his arm crossed over his face he let out a gasp of air. “Fuck! I stink.”

“Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Jared Leto, mood-killer extraordinaire,” Colin burst into chuckles. Jared flipped him the bird. “You’re not so much of an Irish Spring either, fucker, so watch it. God, I just want to shower and go to bed, I am so exhausted. Stupid fucking Grammy’s and their stupid fucking awards.” He rolled himself off Colin’s lap and landed on the floor in a heap. When the heap made no move to get up, Colin nudged it with one foot.

“Um, Jay?”

“Whaa-oh, right, yeah. Shower. Bed. Got it,” came the muffled reply from the floor. Jared pulled himself off the ground, trying to push his tangled hair out of his face. “K, be right back,” he mumbled on his way into the bathroom.

*****

Jared stripped in the bathroom, dropping clothes anywhere and everywhere and turned the shower on. When steam started fogging up the glass doors he stepped in and just stood there letting the hot water beat down on him, turning patches of his chest and stomach red. He turned around and bent his head back under the spray in preparation to wash his hair. He didn’t hear the bathroom door open over the spray of the shower in his ears. Nor did he hear the sound of clothes hitting the floor or the sound of bare feet on tile.

Colin slid open the shower doors, knowing the sound they made would announce his presence so that he wouldn’t startle the other man. Jared pulled his head up from the stream of water and wiped the water from his eyes. He smiled a slow smile at Colin, who turned him around by the shoulders and reached past him to grab the shampoo bottle. “Let me,” he said softly.

Jared tilted his head up a bit and closed his eyes, releasing a big sigh.

“Decided you needed a shower, too, huh?”

“Didn’t want you falling asleep in here.”

“I’m not that tired.”

Colin slid one of his soap-slicked hands down Jared’s chest to his hard stomach and back up again, causing Jared to moan and lean back into the Irishman’s chest. “Good to hear. Remember what you promised me earlier?” Colin’s hand slid down Jared’s treasure trail and he wrapped his fingers gently around Jared’s cock. Jared hissed at the contact.

“Yeah. You want me to put the scarf and socks back on?” he joked. He’d been a little hard since Colin had started washing his hair but now he was practically rigid.

Colin turned him back around and tilted his head back to wash out the shampoo, still stroking him slowly the whole time. “Maybe later,” he said with a wink as he closed the distance between their mouths and kissed his boyfriend deeply.

Jared’s breath hitched when Colin pushed him up against the cold tile wall. He wrapped both arms around Colin’s neck. “So what are you going to do right now?” Jared issued the challenge.

Colin accepted it eagerly. He suddenly grabbed Jared, one hand under each ass cheek and lifted him up the wall a little bit. Jared gasped and immediately wrapped his legs tightly around Colin’s waist. He licked his lips wantonly as he was sprayed by the cascade of water bouncing off both of them.

“Right now I am going to make you forget all about the Grammy’s and the disappointment and Mark. Especially Mark,” he added pointedly.

“And how do you plan to accomplish that feat?” Jared egged him on. Colin was now fingering him, getting him ready to receive his cock, and his love. He squirmed and pushed down on Colin’s fingers, that familiar burning sensation lighting a fire in his loins, up to the pit of his stomach.

Colin practically growled out, “By making mad fucking love to you until you can’t see straight, that’s how.” He pulled his fingers out abruptly, receiving a pitiful sounding groan from Jared.

“Well then, by all means, go to it, My Alexander,” Jared said in a husky voice, staring straight into Colin’s eyes as he drawled out ‘My Alexander’, knowing what it did to Colin’s dick.

“As you wish, Phai,” Colin entered him in one smooth stroke, having lubed himself up with some shampoo from washing Jared’s hair. It was like coming home. They both sighed and Jared readjusted his grip on Colin’s neck and waist, and then threw his head back against the wall, breathing heavily, mouth hanging open, a gratuitous display of sexual fierceness that had sometimes driven Colin to an embarrassingly early climax.

But not tonight.

Tonight they would revel in the joy and love of each other’s bodies for hours and hours until Colin had healed all of Jared’s woes of disappointment and pain from not winning something he had striven so hard to achieve. Not the award itself or the acknowledgement from others, but the personal sense of accomplishment and pride one gets from achieving one’s dreams.

Feeling the need for a little levity, and also just for an excuse to see that gorgeous unguarded smile, Colin randomly burst out as he pounded Jared into the wall, “You’ll always be a winner in my heart.” He grinned at Jared’s responding laughter and smile.

“You are such an adorable idiot!”

“But I’m your adorable idiot so that has to count for something, right?”

Jared raked his fingers up and down Colin’s back, aided by the water that was probably going to run cold any minute now. “That counts for everything,” Jared assured him with a wink.

Colin hit him at a different angle just then and Jared’s world spun. “Oh. Fuck yes, harder, Cols, make me feel you in my bones.” Colin lived up to his promise after that, thrusting so passionately into the man he loved that Colin was all Jared could see through a sexual haze, his climax bursting out of him like a geyser shooting up between their bodies. And he knew exactly what to say to bring Colin to bliss as well.

“Guess you fulfilled your promise. I can’t see a fucking thing but you. But just wait till later. I’m going to fuck you so hard you won’t be able to sit down tomorrow.”

Colin preferred making love to Jared who in turn preferred being made love to. Most of the time, anyway. So it was kind of a guilty pleasure of theirs when Jared felt the urge to reciprocate and show his love for Colin in this way.

Upon hearing those words burn their way into his head, and without having been bloody well interrupted this time, Colin promptly came with the taste of Jared’s tongue in his mouth as his lover swallowed his cries, the last of his seed being squeezed out by Jared’s tight channel.

The shower had indeed run cold by now and Colin reached over blindly to shut it off. He had collapsed against Jared after he slowly set his lover’s legs back to the slippery floor of the shower cabin.

Jared released Colin’s lips to whisper, “Thank you, Colin.”

“You’re more than welcome, Jared,” Colin whispered back.

“Now can I go to bed?” he asked as Colin dried them off amidst all the discarded clothes on the floor.

“If you can find it in there under all that mess you made today,” Colin said lightly, a small smirk on his face.

Jared had the grace to look embarrassed for a moment before he resolutely walked out of the bathroom bare-ass naked and called to Colin over his shoulder on his way to the bedroom, “Come on, Cols! The bed’s not going to clean itself up, get your gorgeous Irish ass in here and help me find that red scarf and my socks…”

Colin was out of the bathroom like a shot, scarf and socks already in hand.

*The End*


End file.
